Database

This is a database of performances of symphonies by 14 major orchestras across 133 cities in Germany, Austria, England, France, and North America between 1800 and 1914. The database includes symphonies by 294 composers and details of over 12,000 performances.

The purpose of the database is to help users find out where and when symphonies were performed, to trace trends in frequency of performance across time and space, and to begin to deduce relationships between cities by comparing their symphonic repertoire and examining where a first performance in one city was likely to lead next.

The data have been collected by the team from a variety of sources: online performance databases, newspapers, and programme collections. Sometimes the data are partial: often a programme (especially in the early decades of the century), will list a composer but not the title of the symphony. At other times the programmes provide a title, but it is generic and incomplete and does not provide enough information to say with certainty which symphony is meant. In these cases, the title is listed as unknown, but we have provided all information available in the "notes" column of the database.

The sources we have used for the database are as follows:

The Hallé Orchestra

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Gewandhaus Orchestra

New York Philharmonic

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Concerts Pasdeloup

Societe des Concerts

Concerts Lamoureux and Élisabeth Bernard, 'Le concert symphonique à Paris entre 1861 et 1914: Pasdeloup, Colonne, Lamoureux', Vol. 2: 'Programmes' (Thesis, Université Paris 1-Sorbonne, 1976), 280-346

Concerts Colonne: Élisabeth Bernard, 'Le concert symphonique à Paris entre 1861 et 1914: Pasdeloup, Colonne, Lamoureux', Vol. 2: 'Programmes' (Thesis, Université Paris 1-Sorbonne, 1976), 69-208. In Bernard’s thesis the second half of 1900/1 season and all of 1901/2 seasons are missing. Giles Masters has reconstructed some of this missed period based on scanned material from Archives de Paris (VS3 23 and VS3 24).

Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts: The collection of programme booklets held at the Royal College of Music (GB-LCP), and some additional programme booklets for 1856 and 1857 held at the British Library (shelfmark c.370.a).

Philharmonic Society of London: Myles Birket Foster's History of the Philharmonic Society (1813-1911) (1912) and the programme booklets held at the British Library (Shelfmark K.6.d.3).

The database only scratches the surface as there are many orchestras and many performances of symphonies that aren't included. If you would like to contribute data to the database or if you notice a mistake in the data, please contact the PI: Dr Joanne Cormac (joanne.cormac@nottingham.ac.uk).